Violator
by Jack Bauer Reborn
Summary: When Akane decides to participate in a tournament in Fuyuki City, she is drawn into another, more deadly competition.
1. Chapter 1

Fate/Stay Night and Type-Moon fans: I'm playing a bit fast and loose with the Fate/Stay Night continuity, but I'll try to stay as close as I can while being consistent. I'm working mostly off of information from the anime. This takes place part way through the Fate/Stay Night story.

This is post-failed wedding in the Ranma continuity.

I don't own any of these characters, and I'm doing this for fun. Ranma 1/2 and Fate/Stay Night are owned by their respective owners and licensed by their licensors.

* * *

**Violator: Prologue**

When Akane Tendo walked home from Furinkan High early in the afternoon, she was expecting something weird to happen. She figured that this was a side effect of living in Nerima, but this feeling was fairly different. This was the feeling a student gets when he doesn't do his homework and thinks the teacher is going to give a pop quiz, or the feeling teenagers get when they have been out past their curfew and they think their parents are waiting.

Most people, Akane figured, want to ignore those feelings. She tended not to, since a habit like that could put her at risk.

In fact, whenever she got that feeling, she started walking home faster.

Akane wasn't disappointed when she arrived. Her father, Soun, was waiting for her with the semi-serious smile that he always used whenever he had a plan to get her married. Unfortunately for him, the plans never worked. There were too many outside influences - Cologne and the Chinese Amazons, Kodachi Kuno, and Ukyo Kuonji - let alone herself and her recalcitrant fiance to let them work.

She bit back some anger at her father when he started rambling about how she would do an excellent job of representing the family school of martial arts to the rest of the world at some unknown tournament in Fuyuki City. Tournaments of that scale take months of training to prepare, and there was no way she was ready for something like this in such short notice. She did practise daily, but the fights with the other girls that she found herself in once a week weren't very well suited for tournament situations.

Since school was now out for the summer, Akane was looking forward to just being out of school for a while and spending time with her friends. It was her chance to take a break and would keep her away from the various perverts at school, her crazy teacher Ninomiya, and the idiots who kept drooling over her fiance.

Akane heavily considered making excuses to not go the tournament, saying that she didn't need to go and she wasn't ready. At the very least, she didn't register, and tournaments like this probably didn't allow contestants to register at the door. Also, she didn't have any place to stay or friends in the area.

It didn't work. Her father - or rather, her sister - had already taken care of that. Her father continued rambling and handed her a train ticket, her registration, and contact information for a hotel for her to stay. She guessed that it wouldn't be too bad, since she'd be on her own until she realised that she actually had two sets of tickets and registration information.

Ranma was going to the tournament with her.

So that's why he was grinning so much, she thought. Akane didn't have to try hard to come up with a guess on what he was trying to do: make them spend a few nights together in the same room in the same bed. Hopefully, by the time they return they'll go straight to the altar. It was a simple plan, but it wouldn't work. The right people would find out about this, and it would all come crashing down at someone's expense. Then she would get angry and the cycle would continue. It also doesn't help that love doesn't come in a few days of sleeping in the same bed. It takes months and years of getting to know someone, and spending time together.

It also didn't help that Ranma was also a pompous jerk.

On the other hand, she supposed that he might have a few redeeming qualities; enough for her to have developed feelings for him. She just couldn't put it together. When they were together on their own and she was able to keep herself in check, things would go well. If someone else was there though, someone or something would set them at each other and a mallet would probably get used. At the end of the day she'd hate herself for continuing the cycle, and the problem would get worse.

Then again, maybe this time could be different.

When Akane realised this, she made up her mind. A few days wouldn't make them fall in love, but it could help them find out if they were even compatible. A few days could even move them from "fighting regularly" to "starting to date". If she did well at this tournament, things potentially got better. It could change the way everyone looked at her: Ranma's parents would have a newfound respect for her, and the other girls who want Ranma for themselves will have to think again about how they approach him. Attacking someone's girlfriend is not a good way to ask them for a date.

It would definitely change the way _he_ looked at _her. _

In the end, Akane boarded a train with her fiance to the tournament in some far off place called Fuyuki City, checked into the hotel - thankfully, it was not a love hotel, but it did have only one bed - and successfully registered at the tournament with a feeling.

This _could_ actually work.

- - - - - -

_Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes, the bear gets you._

It was an old saying, but it didn't provide any comfort. All it was good for, she thought, was a quick synopsis of the situation, and that didn't provide any help to her either.

What she needed was a solution.

As she ran down the street, that proverb was all she could think about, a pearl of wisdom that seemed to be floating in her mind, reminding her that she made a mistake. She thought she had covered all her bases. She had checked and double-checked her plans, and thought that she had listed all the risks while positioning herself to minimize their effect on her.

Normally, she thought, she had covered herself well. So well, in fact that she was quite proud of herself when it came to her planning and she put some effort into not letting her ego inflate _too_ much. When her plan backfired, she was on the receiving end of a double cross, and was literally running away for her life.

Her Servant was injured but able to get away. He would spend a lot of time recovering from this, especially since he had to put himself on the line to get her supposedly well-covered ass out of a bad situation. He vanished into his spirit form on her orders once they were out of immediate harm, but she had a long way to go to get home.

She hoped she wasn't being followed. She was exhausted, bleeding, and attracting attention to herself.

If the bear caught up to her now, even if she summoned her Servant to her side, she wouldn't last very long.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Fate/Stay Night, and I'm just doing this for fun.

Second Disclaimer: I'm playing a bit fast and loose with the Fate/Stay Night continuity. You'll see.

* * *

From his vantage point looking over a street in Fuyuki City, Lancer couldn't help but smile at his luck. He had seen this Master fight before, and was impressed by her magical ability and her Servant's fighting prowess. The way she was running implied that she was hurting, and was more concerned with getting away.

Lancer supposed he was just going to have to ruin her day.

He was looking forward to the fight. It was going to be fun, even if he did have the advantage. Nobody cares about advantages anyway, he thought. What matters is who wins. The girl with the red shirt and her Servant were a formidable team, but he was better. Things would be better still if his Master showed up once in a while to help him out, but that wasn't going to happen.

The Master he was watching was running down the street, but she looked like she was getting tired. Lancer decided that he would follow her a little more until she went by an area without witnesses or stopped to catch her breath.

Then he'd attack her.

- - - - -

Ranma and Akane walked from the tournament to the hotel with a bit of an extra spring in their step. Ranma was bouncing with anticipation for the upcoming matches, and Akane was just happy that she won an exhibition match designed to get her used to the tournament rules. She didn't care that it didn't count for anything since it was still a win. She also found it nice to be able to not have to use her martial arts abilities to beat back perverted high school students or kidnappers.

They were passing a park when Ranma cocked his head. The park was dark and had a gated entrance that was slightly open. The wall around it blocked the light coming from the street lamps inside.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

Akane looked at him, ready to ask "What the hell are you talking about?" when she heard a faint clang coming from beyond the wall. It was hard to make out with the breeze until she heard it again. "I…I think so", she said.

"Akane," he said, "please go back to the hotel."

"What?" Akane replied. "Why?"

"Listen, Akane," Ranma said, as he pointed at the park, "something's going on over there. It sounds like a fight. I want to check it out, but I don't want you to get hurt."

Akane sighed and shot him a look that said that she wasn't going anywhere without him, and that he was not going to win an argument this time. She thought that he was hoping to save another damsel in distress, and the last thing Akane wanted was him to find another martial arts girlfriend or fiancee to get in her way.

"In case you forgot, Ranma, there's a martial arts tournament going on in this city. The last thing we want to do is get involved in someone else's fight. It's probably someone who didn't like the way the exhibition match was judged or something. Let's go to the hotel and get ready for tomorrow."

When she heard the same noise again, louder, Ranma's face told her that what she said wasn't enough to convince him not to go.

"Akane, please," Ranma started, "stay behind me. We can get in and out quickly if we're quiet and if it's just a fight like you said."

"Fine," she huffed.

Ranma led her through the park, following the noises that seemed to be coming from the other side. When they neared a clearing, it was obvious that Ranma was right. There was a girl in a red top who was obviously hurt slumped over near the wall. A tall man in blue armor with a long staff was walking slowly towards her. In between them, there was a man in red who looked like he had been beaten up badly and was trying to protect the girl. He had a pair of matching curved swords, and he looked like he knew how to use them.

It was clear that the man in red wouldn't last very long. The man in blue looked fresh compared to the others, and the smirk on the other man's face said he was going to attack them both.

Akane grumbled. She knew that Ranma wasn't going to stand around. He was going to step in for that girl. It was true that she wasn't in danger, but she hoped that he would rescue her before anyone else.

"Stay here," he whispered before stepping out into the clearing and called out to the man in blue. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Akane stayed behind, peeking from behind the tree.

The man in blue looked at Ranma and frowned. It was clear that the interruption had seriously upset him. Ranma couldn't understand why the man with the swords didn't look happy either. He figured that the man with the swords would have been happy for the breather and watched him swear quietly. Confusion went to both combatants, and then Ranma realized that they weren't staring at him, but at Akane.

Ranma looked back at Akane. "What are you doing? They're staring at you, dummy!" Akane didn't respond.

The man in red positioned himself so that he could protect the girl from both the man in blue and Ranma, and with one look, told Akane that she was in very deep trouble if she moved from that tree.

Ranma called out to the man in blue again. "Look pal, I don't know what you're trying to do here, but I'm not going to let you beat up some defenseless girl."

"Hmm," he said, "you're different. What kind of Servant are you? You're pretty weak."

"Servant?"

"I'd almost say you were human if it weren't for the mana you have but that looks different too," he said to Ranma. Pointing to the unconscious girl, he asked, "Why is she important to you anyway? You have your own Master to protect."

Ranma shook his head, and decided to ignore the 'Master' comment. "I can protect both of them," he said.

"I can take care of myself, Ranma," Akane snapped from behind the tree.

"No, you can't," Ranma replied. "I told you to stay there."

"Yes I can, Ranma!"

"You can, eh?" the man in blue said to Akane, chuckling. "That's awfully confident of you, especially from behind that tree. At least that girl didn't run and hide. Some fighter you are."

Akane's blood started to boil.

"She says she can take care of herself," Ranma said. "I'm going to protect both anyway."

The man in red looked over at Ranma, sizing him up, and then glanced at the unconscious girl in the corner of his eye, but said nothing. He looked like he was looking for a way to get out and take her with him and gave Akane the same "don't move" look again.

"I'd like to see you try," the man in blue said, challenging Ranma. "I just can't figure out what kind of Servant you are."

Ranma ignored that last statement. "Whenever you're ready", he said. "You look like good practise."

So much for getting out of here quickly. "Ranma, you idiot!" Akane screamed. "What are you doing? Don't fight him!"

The man in blue appeared to think about his chances of winning against both Ranma and the man with the swords. He stepped forward, and then stopped as if he remembered something and sighed.

"Tonight is not a good time for us to fight. As much as I'd like to kill you, I've got instructions to not take unnecessary risks, and I'd have a hard time explaining a two-on-one. Another time…" he said, prompting Ranma.

"Ranma Saotome. Heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

The man in blue's eyes widened. "Well, that was easy," he said, looking Ranma straight in the eye as if to give advice. "You shouldn't be so forward with your name. It will expose your strengths", he said, pointing his staff at him, "and weaknesses", he continued, pointing at Akane. "The next time we meet, Ranma Saotome, I won't have anything stopping me from killing you." He turned and jumped away, disappearing over the wall that surrounded the park.

Ranma looked like he was going to say something back to him, but he looked at her first and could tell that she wasn't happy. It didn't matter anyway since he was interrupted by the girl's voice.

"Archer…"

The man turned around, and looked over at the girl, making sure he was still in a position between the girl and Ranma and Akane while continuing to speak volumes about what would happen if Akane moved in a single look.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "I should take you away from here so you can rest and recover."

She grunted as she shifted against the wall. "I think I'll be fine, Archer. If they were going to kill us, they would have by now."

"Kill you?" Ranma exclaimed. "What's with you people? Why would I want to kill you when I just finished sticking up for you?"

"Good question," she replied. Turning to me, she asked, "Why haven't you two tried to kill me yet?"

"Um…he keeps looking at me like he'll kill me if I move from here?" Akane said sheepishly.

The girl nodded. "So he's not your Servant?"

"Servant?" Akane asked. "Of course not!" Akane thought Ranma's ego wouldn't let him serve anyone.

"He's your boyfriend?" she asked.

"No!" Ranma and Akane screamed. Archer looked at them worriedly. The girl chuckled at their reaction and then clutched her side in pain. Akane moved forward to help her, but she waved Akane off. The girl slowly pulled herself up, leaning against the wall and showing the extent of her injuries.

"What happened?" Akane asked.

The girl looked at us as if she were upset. "Did you have any idea what you were doing?" she asked. Turning to Ranma, she continued. "And you…did you really know what you were up against? He could have killed you."

Ranma shrugged it off. "It's no worse than what I'm used to. I can't remember the last time someone didn't say they were out to kill me. Besides, it would have been good practise for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" she asked. "Do you normally have people out to kill you?"

"There's a big martial arts tournament starting tomorrow. It's an anything goes tournament - as long as you can fight in some kind of martial arts, with or without aids like weapons, it's ok for the tournament. That guy in blue would have been good practise. And yeah, I've been attacked quite a few times, but I always win."

The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't matter anyway. I'm gonna win the tournament," Ranma boasted.

"Stop showing off, Ranma!" Akane shouted, smacking him on the back of the head with the palm of my hand.

Archer relaxed and turned to look at the girl. They seemed to be communicating telepathically. "We should leave," he told her out loud.

She nodded in agreement. "Yes, you're right. I guess we should thank you for helping us out, but we really have to go. Good luck at your tournament."

"Wait!" Akane said. "Who are you? Why was that guy after you? Don't you want to go to the police or maybe even a doctor?"

They stopped and looked at each other. "You really don't want to know, and you shouldn't get involved. Trust me on this." She turned to go and stopped again when Archer put his hand on her shoulder. "Wait." She squinted at her, making her nervous again.

"What?" Akane asked nervously.

The girl looked up at Archer. "Archer…perhaps…we could use another ally."

"Are you sure? If he is not her Servant, then where is it?" Archer asked.

"Archer, we don't even know if she is a Master, but she does have some ability. She might be one, and if that's the case, then it's a good thing." She paused. "I know what you're thinking. I don't think you're right, and at this point, we don't have much to lose," she said, earning a grunt from him. Struggling, she moved forward to Akane, waving off Archer's help and extended a shaky and bloody hand towards her. Akane hesitated but shook it."My name is Rin Tohsaka." Motioning towards Archer, she said, "This is my Servant, Archer."

"I'm Akane Tendo, and this is my…"

"Boyfriend, Ranma Saotome, right?" She finished for her.

"He's not my boyfriend. Fiance," Akane said, putting stress on it because she didn't want Rin getting any ideas towards Ranma.

Ranma cut in. "So what was going on here? What's with all this 'master' and 'servant' stuff? This isn't some crazy S and M game, I hope."

Before Rin could answer, Archer put his hand on Rin's shoulder again. "Rin, we should leave."

"Perhaps you're right. It isn't safe here, considering what has happened today." She stumbled and Akane tried to catch her but Archer took over. "It seems like I'm not as strong as I thought I was. Let's go - my house is not too far from here."

- - - - -

The walk to the Tohsaka home was quiet and quick. Archer hovered over Rin, who was stubborn about accepting help from anyone. Akane tried to get Rin to explain her situation in more detail, but was receiving a consistent answer of "I'll tell you when we get to my home." Ranma watched Archer carefully – it was obvious to him that Archer had some skill for fighting, but didn't know how good Archer or the man in blue armor was. A "friendly" sparring match was already brewing.

The kind of sparring match where some structure gets destroyed.

When they arrived, Rin asked Akane and Ranma to make themselves comfortable while Rin cleaned up and bandaged her wounds. Archer followed her into another room and then stepped in front of her when they were out of sight and earshot.

Archer took Rin into the washroom and had her sit down. A worried look was written all over his face.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.

"Yes. She's a magus, and that boy isn't a Servant," she replied.

"If she is a magus, she can summon her Servant at any time--"

"If she has a Servant, Archer."

Archer paused.

"And if she knows how," she continued.

Archer stared at her.

"If she is a Master, or even if she knew about the War, then she wouldn't have been asking all those questions on the way here. She's not involved. She could be, but she probably isn't yet and we could use the help."

"Saying that we could use the help got us in trouble in the first place, remember?"

"I know that!" Rin snapped back, then checking herself to make sure that she wouldn't continue too loudly. "But we can't go at this alone either. Taking on six Masters and Servants each will burn us out, and we won't get lucky like we did today each time. Alliances happen, and we need a good one."

"So what do you suggest? Become allies with someone who may not be a Master or someone who might not know magic? I know we need to make a few friends, but this seems more like an act of desperation than a well-planned move since we don't know what she can do."

Rin was incensed, but Archer stood his ground.

"Don't make the same mistake twice, Rin. It could cost both of us much more than it did today, and we're going to be inactive for a few days, at least."

Rin looked at her feet, her confidence visibly broken. "Believe me, Archer, I know."

"But you still intend to continue with her." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. She is definitely a magus, and even you could tell that from just looking at her. I'm sure she doesn't know she's a magus. If she does turn out to be a Master, then she'll be on our side if we play things correctly. She may even summon a strong Servant and we can risk her for a few battles. If she summons a weaker Servant, then even if she takes care of one of the others for us, it's one less Master for us to deal with. The best case is that it's just us and her left, and by then we'll know all of her weaknesses. At worst, if she doesn't do anything and isn't really a good magus, _then_ we can find a quiet way of getting her out of the picture."

"And what if she wants nothing to do with us? You're assuming that she's going to want to fight, let alone put her life on the line for us."

"She'll fight," Rin said confidently. "I'm sure of it. We have to make her want to fight."

Archer was about to ask why, but the look that Rin gave him said that she wasn't going to argue that point and wanted to move on. "What about the boy? We have to kill him. We almost had to kill your schoolmate."

Rin cursed. Shiro Emiya was too nice for his own good and it nearly got him killed. His absolutely incessant helping others kept him after school and near the fight that got them in trouble. When he walked into the yard where they were fighting, they were barely able to get out before he got too curious and investigated further. Luckily, he saw nothing, but this boy, Ranma, had a connection to Akane. Shiro would have been a tragic loss.

"She'll try to save her boyfriend if Lancer comes after him, but if what I want to do is to work, we can't kill him," she said. "If there was anything pointing to us, she wouldn't trust us anymore and would probably do something drastic like going public. Remember, Lancer thinks that he is a Servant and wants an actual fight. Again, at worst, he's a red herring for a few of the other Masters when Lancer reports what he saw today. The other Masters and Servants should take care of this for us."

"For Lancer, that's true. I'm not so sure about the others. Some Masters can be very…conservative."

"Lancer and the others won't hold back against him. If they kill him, we can help her get revenge."

"This is a probably a huge violation of the rules, Rin."

"I know. We should have killed them both when we had the chance."

Archer thought about this for some time, and then nodded in agreement. "Rin?"

"Yes?"

"How much will you tell them?"

Rin stared at Archer, thinking about the possibilities. "I don't know exactly how much. Ranma? Probably very little. Akane? I'll give a different explanation, and try to get her to help us. I'll guilt her into working with us by telling her that her boyfriend is going to die if she doesn't do anything. Once she signs on, I'll teach her a bit of magic and help her summon a Servant."

"Be careful. If she finds out that you're manipulating her…"

"She won't."

"If she finds out that you're manipulating her," he repeated, "the results could be worse than what happened today. You could have civilians and other Masters after you, and she could start a vendetta against you. You don't need that kind of stress. I know you're trying to think about the long term, but you can easily make things go very badly for us."

"Don't worry, Archer," she said as she started towards the door. "Get some rest."

- - - - -

Rin walked into the room where Ranma and Akane were waiting, sporting a bandage on her cheek and holding her side. "I guess," she started, "I owe you an explanation."

Ranma and Akane nodded. Patience, as Kasumi was starting to remind Akane, wasn't quite her thing.

"The man in blue was trying to kill me. I don't know his real name, only that he was working on behalf of someone else, and I don't know who that is, either. However, I'm grateful that you came, because it forced him to leave. He wouldn't want witnesses." Rin looked like she wanted to say more, but stopped herself.

"Shouldn't you call the police or something?" Akane asked.

"That wouldn't help much. These people are very good at what they do. They're well trained. You could even call them assassins if you want. Getting the police involved would make things worse."

"Do you know why they're after you?"

"I…I think so. If it is what I think it is, I don't want to go into that. It's kind of personal and somewhat of a family problem."

"Why not?" Ranma asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

Rin looked at Akane, and then at her feet.

"That's ok. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Akane said softly.

"I need your help," Rin said. "If he comes here, Archer and I can fight him, but we can't do it alone."

"Heh. I can take him."

"Ranma," Akane said. "Stop showing off."

"I'm not showing off!" he exclaimed. "He's good, but I'm better."

"How do you know?"

"You can just tell," he replied with a know-it-all smirk.

"Oh, really?" Akane said sarcastically.

"Of course. You can tell based on how he stands with it. He has a clue on how to use it, but he's not the best out there. Think about it, Akane. Your father probably showed that to you."

"That's because," Rin interrupted, "he doesn't need skills with the lance the same way you do."

"Huh?"

"That man in blue who was after me had more than his abilities with his staff. He has a certain amount of…magical ability to go with his skills with his lance. He's more dangerous than you think he is."

Ranma gave Rin a hard look. He was upset that Rin said he was wrong. "And how do _you_ know?"

Akane became frustrated. "He tried to kill her, Ranma! Doesn't that mean anything?"

"She's not a fighter. To her, anyone with a decent amount of training is dangerous."

"So you're going to make fun of her because she's not a martial artist?"

"Well," Rin started, "You're right. I'm not a fighter. Archer is, and that's why he was standing in front of me. I'm a magus. It's the same thing I sense in you," she said, pointing at Akane.

"Me?"

"Yes. I can sense it in you and the ability is there, but I'm guessing that you don't know how to use it."

The look that Ranma and Akane gave Rin in return told her that explaining that statement would take a long time.

- - - - -

It took a bit of work, some handwaving, and a lot of persuasion, but Ranma and Akane eventually believed Rin's statement that she was a magician. Rin had to do a few demonstrations showing her magical prowess, which were straining for her given her current condition. They believed Rin more when she was able to repair a mirror that she deliberately broke. This brought about more questions and more explanations about magic.

The problem that Akane was having, despite all of the demonstrations, was accepting that she was a magician. Akane kept trying to do some soul-searching to find something that she didn't know was there and was coming up empty. Ranma's skepticism was even worse – he was fairly vocal about Akane's lack of ability in terms of magic, saying that notwithstanding the mallets Akane liked to use, she had not demonstrated any magical ability in the 18 months he had known her.

Akane couldn't help but agree, but kept soul-searching anyway, her motivations shifting from pure curiosity to hoping that something was there after all.

Later, Ranma decided that he should try to get some sleep before the first fight of the tournament the next day, and graciously accepted the guest rooms that Rin offered. Twenty minutes after Rin showed him a room with a dresser, Ranma was in a double bed, fast asleep and mumbling something about getting a change of clothes in the morning. Rin promised to wake him since his father was not available for his morning training. Akane was luckier - she didn't have to fight until later in the afternoon.

Rin went back to a confused Akane, who had not said much since Rin made her declaration about her hidden ability. The movement was starting to reopen her wounds, and Rin sat down to rest and called Archer, who walked in with a new bandage. Archer and Rin looked at each other as if they were communicating, but no words were forthcoming.

"Akane, there's a few other things I have to tell you."

Akane nodded.

Rin sighed. "You're not just any magus or magician, which is the term you likely know. You probably think I can pull a rabbit out of a hat, but I'm not that kind of magician either. Those kinds of magicians use sleight of hand or optical illusions to do what they need to do. Their primary aim is to entertain families and little children and make a livelihood out of laughter and fun. Those magicians are just people who are good at making others believe them.

"What I'm talking about," Rin continued, "is a different kind of magic. This is something that comes from inside you, and separates you from everybody else. On the outside, they look like ordinary people, but inside, they have extra abilities, like casting spells – _real_ spells, the stuff that makes children's storybooks interesting – or real illusions, among other things. You saw what I could do earlier. Those weren't just parlour tricks. I can't pull a rabbit out of a hat, because my magic doesn't do that. Do you understand?"

"OK, so I get all this about you being a magician. What does this have to do with me?"

"You can do the same things I can, too. You just don't know how. I want to teach you."

Akane hesitated. The thought of her being a magus didn't seem to sit right with her. She_ was_, after all, a martial artist. Then again, here was someone offering to _train _her, and it wasn't her bullheaded fiancé either.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because the guy in blue who came after me knows some magic, and the person he works for knows more. These aren't people who fight with their fists and feet the way Ranma does, and I'm guessing you do some fighting that way too. These are people who will literally use every trick in the book to get what they want, and they won't feel bad about killing someone to do it.

"If you really want to help me," she said, coughing, "you need to know some magic."

"I...I'll think about it, I guess," Akane said hesitatingly.

"You don't have time to think about it," Rin said firmly.

"What?! Why?"

"That guy who was coming after me now thinks that Ranma is a threat to him. These people like to be secret, and Ranma could expose them."

"That's not a big deal", Akane said. "If that's all we have to worry about, that's nothing. Make him swear. Ranma can keep a secret."

"That's not good enough."

"Why not?"

"They want absolute secrecy, and need guarantees. Promises aren't enough. I'll bet people break promises around you all the time."

Akane looked puzzled, and cocked her head in confusion. It was apparent to Rin that she was not doing a good enough job of making her case to Akane, and this absolutely had to be done if her plan was going to work.

Rin looked Akane in the eye with a piercing glare, and Akane couldn't help but feel nervous.

"The dead can't talk, Akane. They'll kill him to _make_ that guarantee."

"Oh, my God..."

"That's right, Akane. They will kill him. I know you and he think that he's some kind of martial arts wizard, and that may be right, but these people are dangerous, cunning, and very good. They're better than the people at the tournament you two are in. He might be able to survive an attack, if he's lucky, but they have magic on their side, and Ranma has no magical ability whatsoever. He can't fight back. The best martial artists in the world can't beat these people."

Rin could see the color draining from Akane's face as her mind started racing. _Just a little more_, she thought, as Akane's hands started to shake.

"_You_, on the other hand, can fight back. Just like how they went after me today, that guy will go after him. At least Ranma knows that guy – there may be others who can also try to kill him. Ranma doesn't know about _them_, and," Rin paused as she realised that she had found the right thing to say, "he'll think its some friendly challenge from another person who came to the tournament. He might not figure out that they're playing for keeps until its too late."

Akane looked back at Rin, and there was no doubt in her mind about how serious she was.

"Listen, Akane, it's pretty obvious that you have some feelings for him. Anyone can tell from the way you look at him. If he's ever got you out of a tight situation, or, if he's ever risked his life for you..."

Akane thought back. There were too many times he risked himself for her, and her face gave her away so Rin pressed on.

"...you owe him. Don't worry...he's safe tonight, but tomorrow he's at that tournament. Alone. And they're going to go after him in the same way that they came after me."

Akane sniffled.

"Ranma could die as early as tomorrow night, all because he tried to help Archer and I."

"Is...is...there anything we can do?"

In her mind, Rin smiled.

"Learn magic. Accept my offer, and I'll train you."

"And if I don't?"

"Like I said, he's going to die. It's only a matter of time, and that's a guarantee."

"And there's no way to--"

"No. Forget about it."

"I guess I don't have a choice then, huh?" Akane asked with a bit of bitterness. Sure, she cared about him a _little_, but she didn't want to have her hand forced.

"Not if you want him to live past the next little while."

Akane nodded.

"There's more." Rin paused, knowing that the following wasn't easy to explain, but she knew that she had Akane hooked at this point. "I really shouldn't be explaining it. There's a man – a priest – who is supposed to handle these things, but he's a long way from here, and I'm not up for the trip after midnight. I can try, but I don't think you'll really understand, or if you'll believe me. Even then, I can't take you to see him until I teach you a few things."

"Try anyway," Akane said. "If things are as bad as you say they are..."

"I'll skip the history and a lot of the details – you probably don't need to know it all." Akane nodded. "The reason why the man in blue was trying to kill me is because there's another tournament going on, called the Holy Grail War. The Holy Grail War is a kind of competition among magicians. Every few decades, some are chosen based on magical ability to participate in the Holy Grail War. The prize is the Holy Grail itself, which has the power to grant any wish."

"Any wish? Honestly?"

"Yes. Each magician that is chosen is called a Master, and usually comes from one of a few lines of magician families. Magicians are usually trained since they were children, but there are a few exceptions and they're extremely rare."

"But I'm not from a family of magicians."

Rin cocked her head. "You're not? That's impossible." She put her hand to her chin. "Magical ability is inherited. Who are your parents?"

"Soun and Kimiko Tendo."

"Tendo? I've never heard of that family before."

"My dad has been training in martial arts for his entire life, and that's been family tradition for generations. I'm actually--"

Akane was about to explain her status as the Tendo school heir when she was cut off. "What about your mother? What did she do? Who was she?" Rin asked.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Mom died when I was six. I barely remember her."

Rin hesitated, looking straight at Akane.. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok, you had no way of knowing."

"Akane...do you remember your mother's maiden name?"

Akane stopped to think. "Yamato?"

"Yamato?" Rin said, eyes wide. "Are you sure?"

Akane stopped to think for a bit. "Yeah...now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure about that."

"I thought that family was dead."

"Huh?"

"Some families don't produce magicians too much anymore – the magical ability has been...diluted...because they have had too many generations by non-magician parents. In some cases, years ago, the heads of families have been known to arrange marriages so that the families can trade secrets and continue to have magician children."

Akane flushed. This sounded vaguely familiar to her.

"Akane, you may be the last person in your family to have this ability. You may be the only one able to carry on the tradition."

Akane paused, thinking about it. It bothered her that Rin had expected Akane or Rin to try to kill her, but Rin didn't provide an answer earlier that night. "I...I don't know."

Rin stood straight and looked straight at Akane, eyes boring into her. "Akane, the Holy Grail allows for any wish to be granted. Some Masters will go to extreme lengths to win."

Akane paled. Rin continued. "Masters have Servants because humans can't actually touch the Holy Grail, but they can. Because the Grail gives Servants a wish too, they have motivation to help Masters. Servants are much more powerful than Masters, so they do a lot of fighting on behalf of their Master. This also means that you can take out a Master from the game by defeating their Servant. A Servant will spend a lot of time defending you and doing tasks that you give it.

"There's a problem though. The guy from the park is a Servant, and thinks that Ranma is your Servant. This means that he also thinks that you are a Master, and he has to defeat you and Ranma."

"So? We're not involved in this...Holy Grail War...thing. We'll just tell him that we're not the people he's looking for and he'll have to move on."

"He won't. In fact, telling him that will guarantee that he goes after him."

"What?"

"There's a small rule that says that innocents who come across the War have to be silenced. There's only one guaranteed way of doing that, and there's no such thing as a memory erasing spell. That's why Ranma is in so much danger. This is the reason why I said the people who want absolute secrecy want Ranma dead."

Akane stopped, trying to digest everything that Rin was telling her. "What do I do?"

"Summon a Servant."

"I'm not a Master. How do I do that?"

"While the methods for summoning a Servant are somewhat known, there are some issues on which one you summon." Rin paused. "But you can't take your time with this...one of the other Servants already thinks that your boyfriend is your Servant, and Ranma didn't do a terribly convincing job of telling him otherwise."

"For the last time, he's not my boyfriend! He's my fiance!" Akane snapped. "And besides, he was screaming about not being a Servant to the guy in blue." Akane mumbled something under her breath about Rin's persistence.

"Well, the good part is that summoning a Servant makes you a Master. But if you think about it, he was actually screaming at Archer and I that he wasn't a Servant. He said nothing to the other Servant."

"So that guy in blue is going to attack Ranma to get at me?"

Rin nodded. "Ranma is going to get attacked anyway. The only question is why and when."

"What do I tell him?"

Rin raised an eyebrow. "That's up to you. You're not supposed to let outsiders know about the Holy Grail War – they're supposed to be silenced. I think you should tell him nothing. If he knows, he might say something or start looking over his shoulder constantly, and people will notice that. That will get even more innocent people in trouble, and that will ultimately be your fault."

"That's insane! You're telling me he's going to get attacked randomly just because of who he is, and I can't tell him?"

"Believe it or not, its his best chance at surviving. If you want, tell him to go to the tournament, and go back to the hotel or here. At the very least, he shouldn't be hanging out in quiet areas alone. But if you start telling him that, he's going to ask why, and you don't look like a good liar. Save yourself the trouble and risk."

Rin silently hoped that she wasn't laying it too thick, but she wanted to pressure her into saying yes, otherwise this was for nothing. "It gets worse, too."

"How?"

"The Holy Grail allows any wish. It could destroy the world if it was desired."

Akane stared at her.

"Still want out? If you don't participate, Ranma will likely die. If you don't participate, the world could end because someone wanted it. Here's your chance to save the world. You can save your…fiance too." Rin chuckled. "The look on your face says that he's saved you a few times."

"I..." Akane stopped and sighed loudly. "Fine. I'll do it. You can train me in magic, and I'll help you."

"Look, you really need to see Kotomine. He can explain all the rules." Rin looked away. "We also can't go until you summon."

Akane was torn between thinking that Ranma might be happier without her being around and trying to hover over him to protect him from the unknown assassins about in Fuyuki City. "We'll see in the morning," she replied.

Rin smiled and got up. "Good. Anyway, it's late. I'll show you a room where you can stay for the night."

"Um…ok," replied Akane. She didn't know why but there was still something nagging her at the back of her mind. Something didn't make sense.

"Wait," Akane said. "If you're a Master and you want the Grail, why are you telling me this? Aren't you making things hard for yourself?"

Rin sighed and looked to the ceiling. "Akane, you don't want me to answer that. Trust me."

* * *

Thanks for reading. Reviews, comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome. Thanks also go to commenters at Fukufics for their feedback and pointers.

I think I corrected all of the transcription errors.

Regarding Rin's comment about the lack of a memory erasing spell - she is technically correct since according to Furinkan dot com, the memory erasing technique that Shampoo used is the combination of the shampoo and pressure points.

Regarding Akane being not so convinced that Lancer is a threat to Ranma after watching Saffron - Akane also doesn't think he's invincible either. Rin's trying to make Akane sign on first and then figure out the details later.


End file.
